Cal Wins Its Late-Night Opener of the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament
Cal won its opening game of the Pac-12 baseball tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona, but the sixth-seeded Bears' did not complete their 4-1 upset of No. 3 seed UCLA until 1:26 a.m. Thursday morning.
As a result of the late-night win in this double-elimination event, Cal (29-25) next will play Oregon State, which is ranked No. 3 in the country in this week's USA Today coaches poll and ended Washington's 12-game winning streak by beating the Huskies 13-8 in a game that lasted four hours and 32 minutes Wednesday.
The Cal-Oregon State game is expected to start sometime between 8:30 and 9 p.m. Thursday
Josh White was the Wednesday star for Cal, which won its seventh straight game. Moved to the bullpen midway through the season, White made his first start since April 1 and pitched seven shutout innings, giving up seven hits and four walks while striking out eight and throwing 115 pitches.
It was only the second win of the season for White, who has suffered six losses and hasn't had the kind of season many expected.
"I feel like he's the kind of guy who always comes up big when we need him," said Cal outfielder Dylan Beavers, who hit an inside-the-park homer Wednesday for his 17th home run of the season. "He obviously hasn't had his great stuff, but it's still in there and we know that."
Joseph King, who has been a starter all season, pitched the final two innings, giving up a run in the eighth.
The Bears' early offense was provided Beavers, who hit his inside-the-park home run in the third inning, and freshman Rodney Green Jr., who added a solo home run in he fourth inning.
A run-scoring single by .Caleb Lomavita and a sacrifice fly by Keshawn Ogans, both in the fifth inning, finished the scoring for the Bears, but it was enough.
Cal first baseman Nathan Martorella extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a fifth-inning single. It is the longest hitting streak by a Cal player since Mark Canha, now with the Mets, hit in 19 straight in 2009.
The Bruins (35-21) are expected to get an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament no matter how they fare in the conference tournament, but Cal has to win this event to get into the NCAA tournament.
"We're playing real well right now," Beavers said. "It's unfortunate it's coming together late in the season, but we've still got a chance so we're going to keep it going and see what we can do in the tournament."
UCLA made an interesting move by having Josh Hahn be its starting pitcher against the Bears. Hahn had pitched only four innings all season, all in relief, and had a 9.00 ERA, as the Bruins tried to save their frontline starters for later in the tournament.
He had his longest outing of the season on Wednesday, going 1 1/3 innings and not allowing any runs before being replaced in the second inning.
Earlier in the day, No. 1 seed Stanford beat Arizona State 6-3, and No. 5 seed Arizona defeated Oregon 8-6.
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Cover photo of Rodney Green Jr. as he prepares to hit a home run
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